In Malaysia there are a lot of people who profit from the desperate, the naive and sadly the foolish, these people are commonly called agents. There are Employment agents, maid's agents, Immigration agents and GRO agents (I'll explain that later). These are the 4 basic types of agents prowling for people who want a job .
Employment Agents are probably the least offensive type, they tell you a lot of bullshit to get you to pay
them and then they deliver nothing. I have personally had no dealings with them only because someone told me to stay away, someone I trust. These agents, I am told, will troll the want ads and find "Positions" that they have to fill. These agents charge anywhere from RM50 ($17cdn) to thousands, depending on what country you happen to be from and the current exchange rate of that country. An expat that I know was looking for a job and paid over RM2000 ($600cdn) to an agent and was still looking when I met him, he found a job in his field in less than a month using an internet job site. The internet job sites seem to be the best option for expats over here. These agents will always refer you to an Immigration Agent, who will always be related to the Employment agent.
Agents that deal with Immigration and Work Permits are always Indian guys that look as though they poured a can of ghee (clarified butter) in their hair, bought all their clothes at the local 70's retro shop and the smell is indescribable, think old spice, bat guano and a little peppermint mixed in (?). I always meet these "Agents" on elevators for some reason, they always give you their card and talk in the most ridiculous fake English accent, they seem to think this makes them sound educated, they even go so far as to drop the name of the British University they went to, not that you could care less and the fact that it was 30 years ago doesn't seem to register as useless information. The first thing they always ask is "Where you from?" and these agents also always ask if you can help them move to Canada as soon as you mention you are from Canada. They never seem to understand that you have no way to help them or that you don't know someone in the immigration office in Toronto, always Toronto.
Employment Agents are probably the least offensive type, they tell you a lot of bullshit to get you to pay
them and then they deliver nothing. I have personally had no dealings with them only because someone told me to stay away, someone I trust. These agents, I am told, will troll the want ads and find "Positions" that they have to fill. These agents charge anywhere from RM50 ($17cdn) to thousands, depending on what country you happen to be from and the current exchange rate of that country. An expat that I know was looking for a job and paid over RM2000 ($600cdn) to an agent and was still looking when I met him, he found a job in his field in less than a month using an internet job site. The internet job sites seem to be the best option for expats over here. These agents will always refer you to an Immigration Agent, who will always be related to the Employment agent.
Agents that deal with Immigration and Work Permits are always Indian guys that look as though they poured a can of ghee (clarified butter) in their hair, bought all their clothes at the local 70's retro shop and the smell is indescribable, think old spice, bat guano and a little peppermint mixed in (?). I always meet these "Agents" on elevators for some reason, they always give you their card and talk in the most ridiculous fake English accent, they seem to think this makes them sound educated, they even go so far as to drop the name of the British University they went to, not that you could care less and the fact that it was 30 years ago doesn't seem to register as useless information. The first thing they always ask is "Where you from?" and these agents also always ask if you can help them move to Canada as soon as you mention you are from Canada. They never seem to understand that you have no way to help them or that you don't know someone in the immigration office in Toronto, always Toronto.
The agents dealing with foreign maids are always scary Chinese women wearing to much makeup and they look like they were prostitutes in the 30's, it's an interesting look to say the least. Because we don't have a maid and I refuse to ever have one, I know little about these agents, other than what I hear everyone telling me. I'll give you a little background about maids.
In Malaysia almost everyone that can afford it, have a maid. These maids are mostly from Indonesia, the Philippines and in some cases India (these could also just be a relative that they treat like a maid). One thing about having a maid is that it is a little like a status symbol, like owning a nice big BMW or a Mercedes, and these people will also tell you in great detail how their maids steal from them or do something else thats evil. Maids are treated like slaves and in some cases locked in the house when the "Employer" is at work and the wife is having her nails done. Maids are expected to cook, clean, educate the children and basically do everything a 50's wife was expected to do, and all this for the huge sum of RM800/m ($270cdn).
The last type of agent here is the GRO (Guest Relation Officer) agent, these guys are usually old, fat and in most cases Chinese or sometimes Malay, but almost always men. I have never had anything to do with these agents. I have seen many GRO's in clubs here, the Hard Rock here is full of them. To put it nicely a GRO is a young girl that's employed to keep the male customers company, thats the nice way to say it, in Canada these girls would be called prostitutes. I am told that the majority of these girls are Thai, Chinese, Indonesian and more commonly now Russian. These girls are hired overseas and brought to Malaysia to work as "Entertainers". There has been a lot of talk about human trafficking through Malaysia, but I doubt it's going to change anytime soon. I have no idea how much they make, but I doubt it's much, unless they are getting "Tips".
The saddest thing in Malaysia is that almost all of the menial labour is done by foreigners, Malaysians do not do labour unless they are poor. The number of unemployed Malaysians is staggering, but there are so many jobs open. I suspect that most Malaysians move from job to job a lot more than North Americans.
Working over here is both educational, exciting, scary and depressing, the thought of my salary always makes me a little sad, but then again over here its a good one, all in all Malaysia isn't a bad place to work and live, but it sure is different!
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